The action came after Andhra Pradesh Police began investigations into a series of complaints from families in the state who claimed their minor daughters had gone missing.

Police managed to zero in on certain brothels on GB road, also known as Swami Shradhanand Marg, after receiving information from a 19-year-old girl who had managed to escape from one of the brothels and return to her home town in Andhra Pradesh. The minor girls were sent for a medical examination to Lok Nayak Hospital on Monday evening. According to NGO Shakti Vahani, who were asked by the police to counsel the rescued sex workers, most of the victims were brought to the city on the pretext of marriage.

“Most of the women confessed that they had eloped with their lovers and wanted to marry them. However, they were sold to brothels in the city. Shockingly, we noticed that almost 80 per cent of the women had eloped with men named ‘Raju’ which hints at a deep-rooted nexus between pimps across the country,” said Subir Roy, director programmes at Shakti Vahani.

Sources in the local police confirmed that most rescued women state in FIRs that they had been sold to brothels by a man named “Raju.”

“Although our investigations are still at a preliminary stage we have found that adopting the name “Raju” is part of the modus operandi of pimps and traffickers across the country. It also suggests that they are all interconnected,” said a police officer who did not wish to be quoted.

Recent data collected by another local NGO Bhartiya Patiti Udhar Sabha claimed that Delhi has 4,500 sex workers living at 108 brothels. These brothels adhere to a strict hierarchy.

While “managers” are usually male members involved in trafficking and getting clients, “nayeekas” are senior sex workers who look after the day-to-day assignments of “lochees” and take a commission for every customer but rarely entertain customers themselves. Lochees reportedly are ‘bonded girls’ who serve customers in return for food and shelter.